1. Field of Invention
An extension device attached to a screw gun providing for an extension of the driver tip of the screw gun and retaining a screw at a flexible end of the extension device holds a screw in a position for insertion into a surface of an object with the flexible end bending away from the driving pathway as the screw is inserted into the object, providing for the ability to insert and drive a screw into the object with a single hand from an extended distance from the object.
2. Description of Prior Art
The following United States patents were discovered and are disclosed within this application for utility patent. All relate to screw gun extensions. For purposes of the application, screw gun is synonymous with a rotary drill, with or without an electrical extension cord, including a rotary drill powered by air, battery or electricity.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,941 to Phillips, a screw holding and driving device is disclosed, attaching to a screw gun or power drill providing a drive tube within which a screw is inserted, en extension body and a drive assembly which is retained by the drill tip of the screw gun. This patent also discloses a depth adjuster, a bit storage caddy and features the guide tube to accept screws loaded within the guide tube through a top opening into the guide tube.
A guide tube for screw and plate assemblies, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,274 to Lammers, includes magnetic area within a plastic nose to pick up a screw and plate assembly by the head and install the fastener, the tube having a hollow extension body having a upper and lower end, a nose piece having magnets extending from the hollow extension body, a drive having an upper end and a lower end, the nose piece attached to the lower end, with a driver located within the hollow extension body accepting the head portion of the screw and plate, the driver engaging the head and inserting the screw and plate assembly within an object. Similar devices are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,408,903 to Ramin, 2,829,685 to Mitchell and 7,174,615 to Mark.
A screw gun extension for the insertion of multiple screws provided by a belt containing multiple screws, is actually a screw positioning device, or keeper, which includes a tubular member having a coupling end adapted to be connected to a slidable barrel part for movement relative to a screw, and discharge end and a screw guiding chamber and two biased screw holding units for grasping the shaft of the screw to hold the screw while it is being inserted by the attached screw gun.
In all the above units, the insertion of the screw is linear as is the collapse of any portion of the patented devices. None of the above units provide a flexible end which retains a screw in an insertion position and flexibly bends laterally out of the way of the screw being driven and then returns to a pre-insertion position. In addition, the above devices do not disclose a bracket on their respective devices which grasp the screw gun body to retain the extension and screw keeper device, nor do they contain an intermediary portion, in an embodiment having at least one descending bracket having a central bore within which a drill rod is rotatably retained, the drill rod rotating within the central bore, the drill rod being attached to the screw gun at a first end with the drill rod having a screw head driver at a second end, wherein a head of the screw is placed within the screw head driver with the threaded shaft of the screw placed within the screw keeper, as disclosed in the present screw gun extension and screw keeper and as disclosed in the attached drawings.